Rickie Fowler Overcomes Demons, Haters to Clinch His 1st win Since 2017

Rickie Fowler, a 4-time winner on the PGA TOUR, stood on the 11th tee box at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a five-shot lead over the rest of the field. He had been cruising the entire week, and it looked like it would be a blowout win for the 30-year-old, quieting all the critics who said he couldn’t finish off a tournament where he had the lead. Fowler has had a history with finishing off tournaments, only converting 1 of 6 leads he has had into a win. However, a cruising victory would turn into a headache of a day for Fowler on a dramatic Super Bowl Sunday. Fowler would hit his tee shot into the right rough, which had turned extremely thick and difficult with the steady rain falling in the Arizona desert. Fowler would play it safe and put his second shot short of the 11th green in the fairway. This is when things became hectic for the final group on the course. Fowler would survey his third shot, just trying to get his chip shot up and in for a par, and move on to the next hole. But the golf gods had different intentions for Fowler, and what looked like a simple chip shot turned into a bladed chip going off the edge of the green into the water surrounding the back of the 11th hole. This was just the beginning of what turned into a hole lasting almost 20 minutes. Fowler would take the penalty and took a drop behind the green. This is when the controversy started. After Fowler took a drop, he went up to the green to survey his next shot, and this is what transpired next-

From the video, you can see that after Fowler took the drop, the ball rolled back into the water by itself. According to the rules, this results in another penalty for Fowler. He would talk it over with the rules official from the United States Golf Association, and the official did conclude it was a penalty, and Fowler would have to add another shot to his score at the end of the hole. This is just another example of how the rules of golf have messed up a ruling during an important part of the tournament, and it almost cost Fowler the tournament. Fowler would have to recover because he went from having a comforting five-shot lead standing on the 11th tee to being one back of the leader standing on the 12th tee. Everybody thought Fowler was going to crumble once again when the pressure was on, and all the  headlines would say after the tournament would be nothing but “Will Fowler ever overcome the pressure?” and “Will Fowler win on the big stage?” But Fowler wasn’t going out like this, not like this. Fowler would overcome adversity and birdie two of his last 7 holes when the pressure was on, and convert the lead he started with at the beginning of the day into his 5th win. Fowler overcame the demons he had, the controversial ruling he received, and the tough rainy conditions to pull off a statement win that proved not only to his critics but to himself, that he belonged as one of the best golfers in the world.